The terrible reputation of traditional British food is a little undeserved but I'm not really going to defend it because of the nationalities on this list I would claim to have tried there are hardly any I'd be happy saying it's better than (lots of countries I know almost nothing about food-wise though).
There's good food in rural UK pubs and restaurants but it must be impossible to find the ones which don't just do soggy chips, cz chain anything is usually bad news so local knowledge required (lol food rockist?) and even £15+ main courses and the gastropub compulsion for unnecessarily fancy side ingredients on everything is no guarantee of anything being worth the money (and sadly for the most part any "British"-style restaurant or pub which wants to look like it has good cooking will be about that expensive or worse, which must be an automatic point-docker for the UK).
I mean whenever I've been in Ireland we've been at a total loss as to where to eat and ended up going for sandwich + soggy chips or Wagamama, but I'm sure that's not because Irish food's bad, just because we didn't know where to look.
I was very happy with all my meals when I was in Germany but they were pretty much all fried pork + maybe some mushroom sauce + a mountain of carbohydrates so I'm a little puzzled any time anyone votes for it (though German breakfasts and cake shops are beautiful, beautiful things) (and, oh yeah, sausages, wines, all the Christmas gingerbreads, FEDERWEISSER!!"£$*... oh hell, maybe Germany it is! no, no, that cannot be)
― a passing spacecadet, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 22:31 (sixteen years ago) link
pubs - Bank of England, Ye Olde, mod/yuppie-ish place up in NW somewhere with quite good pizza chippie - in Peckham, taken by local more-than-half-merkin, the contempo stuff my friend had was much better than the trad stuff i thought i should try Brick Lane - don't remember, but was really pretty good
― gabbneb, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 22:32 (sixteen years ago) link
Bank was pretty good even if the vegetables were mostly nuked
Original British food that is good:
Garden fruits Baked fish Ploughman's lunch Bread'n'butter pudding
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 22:36 (sixteen years ago) link
Nothing wrong with staples like shepards pie and roast dinner either, even if they're uninimaginative next to some other countries' food.
― chap, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 22:38 (sixteen years ago) link
Clotted fucking cream
― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 22:39 (sixteen years ago) link
I actually like shepherd's pie better than the French version.
― Michael White, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 22:46 (sixteen years ago) link
There are a loads of good non-gastropubs for food in London
what are your top 3 picks right now? i haven't eaten pub food within zone 1 for ages. but then i've not had anything quite as bad as gabbneb describes either, unless my standards are just that much lower than his (and it's not like i really know more than a half a dozen places i like and would go to often anyway).
― blueski, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 22:47 (sixteen years ago) link
my favourite brit food experience of last year: a cafe in totnes eating perfect bacon and cheddar sandwich and then some excellent local clotted cream on a scone. why yes my cholesterol levels are fine thank you for asking...
― blueski, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 22:49 (sixteen years ago) link
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i134/dgoobl/cheese-map-smallcopy.jpg
― G00blar, Thursday, 3 January 2008 00:55 (sixteen years ago) link
France (but England for dessert) A friend and I drove from London to Scotland and back last summer. Out of all the places we ate, the random pubs we chose along the way turned out to have the most reliably good (really! good!) food.
But we abandoned hope of getting any decent veggies or leafy salads in the pubs on day three and instead had whatever treacle tart-y clotted creamy thing was around for dessert. Turned out to be a damn good trade off.
― the higgs, Thursday, 3 January 2008 07:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Got to be Italy. France, Spain and Portugal fighting it out for minor honours.
Politically-charged choice to use that UEFA list, by the way. Spain's campaign to freeze out Gibraltar claims another success.
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 3 January 2008 08:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Pubs - which ones? I could probably tell you whether or not the food is any cop at any of them.
Chippie - chances are it was crap, good chippies are increasingly few and far between, especially in London.
Brick Lane - almost certainly awful
this is a bit unfair on gabbneb -- if the pubs/curryhouses/chippies-that-serve-good-food have to be found in a guidebook, that's a problem right there. who has the time? if you're looking for a general high standard, i can't see this not being france/italy; i know it's boring but srsly.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Thursday, 3 January 2008 10:07 (sixteen years ago) link
I agree. Good British food *is* really good, but your chances of finding it aren't really that high, but in France and Italy you're pretty much guaranteed something delicious.
― Nasty, Brutish & Short, Thursday, 3 January 2008 10:12 (sixteen years ago) link
I haven't had that bad luck with chippies in London, at least compared with Reading where I used to live, where they were nearly always terrible - I lived up Oxford Rd for a bit and tried every one between the town centre and my house and they were all inedible.
I grew up in Worcester and the chippies were pretty good as a rule there. I dunno if it's a geographical thing or if the standard has deteriorated generally since the early 90s (price of potatoes causing cutting corners quality-wise?) - I'm going up there this weekend, maybe I shall get a portion of chips and investigate!
― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 3 January 2008 10:17 (sixteen years ago) link
this is a bit unfair on gabbneb -- if the pubs/curryhouses/chippies-that-serve-good-food have to be found in a guidebook, that's a problem right there. who has the time?
Yeah that was the point I was making really, it's all a bit needle/haystack, especially in big cities. I suppose this is why when British people go out to eat, it's not often to eat 'British'.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 3 January 2008 10:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Re French cheese and fucking with it, that's maybe the only foodstuff I think Brits do well - I'd take cheddar & stilton over any of that fancy French muck, but that's probably just my undeveloped British palate.
― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 3 January 2008 10:28 (sixteen years ago) link
chicken tikka massala went out of favour as the nation's favourite since world cup 1998 innit and vindaloo took over. i had one just two nights ago
― ken c, Thursday, 3 January 2008 11:31 (sixteen years ago) link
pies pies pies
― blueski, Thursday, 3 January 2008 11:54 (sixteen years ago) link
most curry houses it's just code for not-very-hot/quite-hot/hot/very hot/rugby player.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Thursday, 3 January 2008 12:05 (sixteen years ago) link
and hence brilliantly british.
Also: Gastropubs.. are they "British cuisine"? Some serve Thai food! and like lasagne and stuff! Does food become British when it's served inside a vaguely british establishment?
Are there as many fried chicken shops in the UK in cities other than London? If so.. does that make fried chicken british??
― ken c, Thursday, 3 January 2008 12:09 (sixteen years ago) link
i guess most people accept britain has great traditional dishes but that it's far more effort than it should be to get a good version of it easily given the number of places around.
perhaps we should send gabbneb a hamper.
― blueski, Thursday, 3 January 2008 12:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Thai pub != gastropub. Most gastropubs probably do focus largely on British cuisine.
― ledge, Thursday, 3 January 2008 12:13 (sixteen years ago) link
Lots of gastropubs near me have quite french-influenced menus.
― chap, Thursday, 3 January 2008 13:47 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd take cheddar & stilton over any of that fancy French muck, but that's probably just my undeveloped British palate.
I am currently enjoying enough imported Neal's Yardiana that I wouldn't even think of disagreeing, though it helps that a certain percentage of it is goat, towards which I am especially biased
― gabbneb, Thursday, 3 January 2008 15:15 (sixteen years ago) link
my parents brought that hamper back
― gabbneb, Thursday, 3 January 2008 15:17 (sixteen years ago) link
fruits and vegetables (potatoes don't count) appeared largely as afterthoughts, punctuation
vegetables are often in the UK referred to as "rabbit food"
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:48 (sixteen years ago) link
mmm rabbit with vegetables
― blueski, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:49 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah i was thinking that!
if you let the rabbit eat the salad, then immediately kill it and eat it, you can eat a rabbit AND have the 5 portions of veggies that you need for day in one sitting!
― ken c, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:51 (sixteen years ago) link
-- Tracer Hand, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:48 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
The worst crime of English food is how they, as a rule, cook vegetables, which is to dump them in a pot of unsalted water and boil them for 22 hours. It's probably a tie as to whether England has treated Africa or mushrooms worse in its history.
― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Mushrooms should of course be fried for 22 hours.
― ledge, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:53 (sixteen years ago) link
iirc in the the old days veggies were only ever eaten by royalty if the royal chef didn't have enough meat to put on the table; perhaps in our modern world where everyone has to have dior this and chanel that there is an unconscious aspiration to this attitude
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:56 (sixteen years ago) link
africa is of course supposed to be poached for 100 years
― ken c, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Well, in our household veggies are regularly messed up, with the exception of mushrooms, which are lightly fried in garlic and butter and thus come out beautiful.
― Just got offed, Thursday, 3 January 2008 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link
mushrooms, of course, != vegetables
I believe the Aussies were originally responsible for the term 'rabbit food'.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 3 January 2008 17:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― ILX System, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 00:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Anyone saying Spanish food is good - have you actually been to Spain???
― admrl, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 00:06 (sixteen years ago) link
Also Portugal wtf?
yea, as someone from a Spanish-American family, I have to say that Spanish food isn't all that good. the rest of my family loves it, but I was never much of a fan.
Italy is it, for me. Whoever talked about the simplicity of it as its main virtue is OTM. Some Italian wines are nice, too. My girlfriend's family is always drinking such good Italian wine, I love it.
I think I might to a beer-country poll, that'd be pretty interesting, with at least 5 or so serious contenders. Or a wine poll, that'd be interesting too.
I'm sympathetic to England (for the curries), the Netherlands (for Indonesian food + Maoz falafel), and Germany (for all the 2 euro falafel), but those don't really count. Even if they did, Italy would still reign supreme.
― Mark Clemente, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 00:27 (sixteen years ago) link
Georgia is the correct answer here, folks, you just don't know it
― mitya, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 03:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Read this as "EUROPE - which country has the best cocaine?"
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 03:57 (sixteen years ago) link
no but i did go to Taco Bell Uxbridge one time. mindblowing!
― blueski, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 11:24 (sixteen years ago) link
aw i wish there's still taco bell in the uk
― ken c, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 11:27 (sixteen years ago) link
Scotland won't be winning this poll
― Tom D., Tuesday, 8 January 2008 11:28 (sixteen years ago) link
seven layers of funk
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 11:30 (sixteen years ago) link
warning do NOT look up "seven layer burrito" in the urban dictionary
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 11:34 (sixteen years ago) link
omg this sounds awesome. wish i'm not at work!
Scotland has at least one vote.
― ken c, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 11:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Spanish food gets worse the further you are from the sea.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 13:37 (sixteen years ago) link
never been to inland Spain
― blueski, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 13:39 (sixteen years ago) link